Rails in the Pavement - Fort Worth's Streetcar Proposal

[Not Sure]

http://westandclear.com/2008/06/18/rails-in-the-pavement-fort-worths-streetcar-proposal/

While Fort Worth has made great steps forward on heavier rail systems, first with the Trinity Railway Express and now with the upcoming Southwest-to-Northeast Line, those systems are primarily concerned with moving across longer city-to-city type distances. What’s been missing is a proposal to do something greater for central city urban mobility, something beyond The T’s little-used (and in some ways rather lackluster) bus system.

Until now.

For several months now, a proposal has been working its way through the city’s ether to bring back Fort Worth’s streetcar system, silenced long ago and replaced with the bus. Decades ago, Fort Worth had one of the finest streetcar systems in the entire country, with routes linking downtown to many dense, walkable “streetcar suburbs” like the Magnolia/Fairmount/Ryan Place area, the west side, and places like the Stockyards. Now, with Fort Worth witnessing the success that modern streetcar systems are having in places like Portland, work is underway on returning these central city circulator vehicles to the neighborhoods around downtown.

--snip--

It’s important to clarify what’s being discussed here. This is not, as it is sometimes called, a “light rail” system; at least, not in the same vein as a system like DART’s trains, Portland’s MAX, or Houston’s light rail. Those systems use heavier trains and run in dedicated right-of-ways, requiring significantly higher costs and timeframes to build and requiring their own dedicated land in many cases. Fort Worth’s proposed system is a genuine streetcar system, running on-street. It’s quicker and cheaper to build, and in this case and for this purpose, a more appropriate design. This isn’t being designed to travel the long distances a DART train travels, and its nimble design will allow it to get into neighborhoods easily and effectively.

This is old news (well, about a month now), but good news for Republican car-centric dominated north Texas. I sure hope to see it come to fruition.

[Vogon_Glory]

1. What Little I Know About Cowtown's Trollies

What little I know about Cowtown's trolleys is that there used to be an intercity interurban trolley line (The North Texas Traction Company) that bit the dust in the early 1930's. Fort Worth also had a city streetcar system that disappeared in the late 1930's, with the same sort of Babbitt-like self-congradulation that many communities showed when they tore out their electic lines.

I believe that Camp Bowie Boulevard once had a trolley line on it.

[Not Sure]

2. I wouldn't be surprised to learn Camp Bowie had a traction line

There's evidence of former streetcar lines in many places around Fort Worth and Dallas. I worked as a land surveyor in Fort Worth from 1994-2006 and I saw many plats referencing streetcar lines. I always enjoyed finding tracks in the streets where asphalt overlays had become worn or in dilapidated neighborhoods where there just wasn't any interest in paving over history. In addition to my interest in the subject, it's actually good evidence of property ownership.

Anyway, a couple months ago, my wife and I were in downtown and stopped off at the bookstore on Sundance Square. I ran across a book showing the very interurban line you describe that ran along present-day Lancaster Avenue. I looked into it a bit and found there's a historical marker at the Handley electric power plant near present-day Lake Arlington. Here's the text of the marker:

"The Northern Texas Traction Company built the original plant at this location to generate electrical power for the Fort Worth-Dallas Interurban. Lake Erie provided water for plant operations. The area developed as a park and became popular for local outings and social events. A two-story auditorium extended over the edge of the lake. When interurban traffic declined the park was closed. The power plant was expanded to meet increased electrical demands. In 1956 Lake Arlington became the new source of water for the Handley plant and Lake Erie was drained."

Amazing how this stuff is "deja vu all over again" -- we're working to rebuild what we already had but deemed unnecessary so many years ago.